Smart Home – Smart Bathroom?

February 4, 2006

So, do you have a Type-A bathroom to go along with your Type-A personality? The Wall Street Journal looks into the rising phenomenon of the Smart Bathroom…

“The humble bathroom, long a place of refuge and solitude, is playing quiet host to more workplace transactions. Bathroom business has gone way beyond tapping out furtive emails on a BlackBerry. Lately, more hard-driving homeowners have converted their loos into virtual satellite workspaces, with retractable desks or waterproof touch-screen monitors. Manufacturer Acquinox of New York says sales of its steam shower/whirlpool units — a hands-free phone is standard in each — nearly tripled last year to 14,800 modules. Wisconsin-based Seura, meanwhile, reports rising sales of its vanity mirrors, which feature LCD screens in the glass. The mirrors, starting at $2,400, let users check their tie-knot, then flip a switch to watch the embedded TV…

“Many Type-A bathrooms are showing up in high-end “smart homes,” which feature computer systems that let homeowners control music, temperature and lights from wall-mounted touch pads. Now, builders and interior designers say, more owners also want toilet-side technology. Future Home, a Los Angeles-based entertainment-system installer, says half of its clients request tech gear in the bathroom, up from about 10% five years ago. A year ago, New Jersey-based smart-home installer Crestron began offering an Internet option on its home touch-screen monitors. And Audio One says about all of the 30 home-automation systems it’s installed near its Miami head office in the past year — prices can reach $200,000 — have featured TVs in the bathroom. “It’s become a given,” says company engineer David Sussman. “There’s not much sanctity left.”via The Wall Street Journal